We all have our hot buttons – things (big and small) that get under our skin and irritate us. Sometimes you know you shouldn’t feel so wound up by certain things, but you can’t help it – they annoy you anyway.

It would be fair to say I have quite a few things that annoy me! Let’s take a look shall we?

Have your fee ready!

You’re waiting for the bus. You’ve spent several minutes waiting already. This is ample time to prepare your cash/ticket/bus pass, and should everyone in the queue have theirs ready, then we can all get on swiftly and be on our way. So why is it that I wind up stuck behind the trio of passengers that all require five minutes of rummaging through pockets and wallets to find what they need?!

This doesn’t just extend to buses. It stretches to waiting in the queue in a shop and waiting for the dopey customer at the front to find their cash or remember their pin. You might have all the time in the world to faff about – don’t assume everyone else does!

The cashpoint is NOT a Financial Advisor!

I don’t know about you, but if I’m using a cashpoint I’m doing so to get cash and be on my way. I might use it to check my balance too, if it’s quiet. What I don’t do is use it to organise my finances for the coming year, yet there are people who are once again, blissfully unaware of other people’s time. If you need to organise your money, go into the bank!

‘if we leave now we’ll be on time’

Yes, we will – provided there are no delays or problems. I like to leave for any given destination with a little time to spare – I build in a buffer that helps me to overcome any delays that might arise (particularly important with train travel). Arriving a little early also grants the opportunity to get settled and not scrambling to make it somewhere just in time – a good thing in my book! I don’t understand why people wait till the last minute to leave then panic about time – you’ve inflicted the problem upon yourself!

‘How much is that really?’

Having spent a significant chunk of my working life in retail, I can promise you this one happens quite a lot. Customers will challenge prices regularly in the hope of a deal, but very few of them will understand that the stores themselves do not set the prices – I don’t have leeway to haggle, and yes, I do have to consider the margin on the product!There’s no point selling products at a loss so don’t ask for unrealistic discounts!

Plane Travel

If you’ve flown then you’ll probably sympathise with this one. I have had the frustration of the passenger sitting in front of me being unable to do anything other than fidget for the entire flight, pushing their seat toward mine and making it impossible to watch the in-flight entertainment / eat the meal / get comfortable. I can fully understand that they’ve paid out to have a flight they’ll enjoy, but this doesn’t come at the expense of other passengers who will have also spent money to fly.

Conspiracy Nuts

I loathe people who find conspiracies in everything. You might have come across such people – ‘9/11 was an inside job, reptiles in human suits rule the planet, there’s a secret society that rules the world’, etc etc. Whilst conspiracies can and do happen, the idea that they are everywhere is frankly, idiotic, and vague claims of proof where none actually exists do not overcome mountains of evidence.

So, there you have a small snapshot of the things that really get my goat, as it were. There are of course other things, but I’ll add those in as time goes by.